Yankees will decide tomorrow whether to place Texieira on the DL

The Yankees have a tough decision to make tomorrow, and it has to do with whether they will place Mark Teixeira on the disabled list.

“It’s just seeing how he feels after three or four days (of rest),” Girardi said. “And then we’ll decide if we think it’s going to be in the near future that he would play, or if we’re going to need the 15 days. If it’s going to be 12, 13, 14 days, it probably make sense to get a player.”

Teixeira has been on the bench for four straight days after getting an injection for his strained lat. Without Teixeira in the lineup, the Yankees don’t have much depth at first base; Kelly Johnson was the first basemen but he’s on the disabled list with a strained groin. That leaves Brian McCann (who is the Yankees primary catcher), Chase Headley (although he’s a more experienced third basemen) and Francisco Cervelli (who is now the Yankees catcher) as options.

“I’ve got like 11 other guys I can run out there,” Girardi jokingly stated. “I talked to Chase (Headley) about it. Chase said he would feel comfortable going over there. I would not be afraid to put Brendan Ryan there. I would not be afraid to put (Zelous) Wheeler there.”

But if the Yankees are going to be without Mark Teixeira for more than a week, then they’re going to have to add someone with flexibility. However, Girardi will cross that bridge tomorrow. All that matters today is the Yankees win this game and take the series against the Texas Rangers.

“We’ll get through today,” Girardi said. “And we’ll probably have something tomorrow and we’ll make a decision.”

Some Notes

— Michael Pineda‘s simulated game was rained out but he was able to do his work indoors. He reported no problems and he’s scheduled to make his next rehab start in five days where he’ll throw 40-50 pitches.

— Derek Jeter has a regular day off today, and it had nothing to do with Brandon McCarthy being on the mound since he’s a ground ball pitcher.

“It’s just kind of the way it goes,” Girardi said. “Day game (after a night game). If it was a night game, he probably would’ve played.”

— Why did Joe Girardi elect to hit Jacoby Ellsbury first and Brett Gardner second? With Gardner becoming the Yankees new ‘power guy’ with Teixeira out of the lineup, wouldn’t it make sense to have Gardner hit third?

“That I wouldn’t do,” Girardi said. “It’s just that Gardy’s really never hit in that spot. Jake is a guy that I feel I can move around because he has moved around, in a sense. I’ve toyed with different ideas. I won’t say the other day that I didn’t think about hitting Gardy (third). I thought that Jake might not be available to me that one day, maybe I do hit Gardy third, but I probably wouldn’t do it. But I said probably.”

— Brandon McCarthy has been very impressive for the Yankees after being traded and Girardi thinks it has something to do with McCarthy being able to throw the cutter, a pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks discouraged him of using.

“I think guys want to feel like they have all their weapons,” Girardi said. “That was a big pitch for him. I know that when we faced him that was a huge pitch for him, and for him to get that back and feel comfortable with it would be really important.”